Slot machines have been with us for a good few years now and casino slot machines almost as long. However it is little known that they were used originally as merely an alternate attraction for punters who could be classed as “non serious”. The clever thing about slot machines from a gaming point of view is that the punters do not need any experience or specialist knowledge in order to be able to play them.
In fact this combination proved so popular that many casinos in the United States have slot machines as their primary gaming devices. The technology has improved substantially of course over the years and today’s slot machines are in no way connected to their ancestors except in concept. The older machines worked on a complex set up of levers and gears but the purpose is the same, to set several reels in motion so that a result could be obtained. This result was called the “pay line” and involved a series of objects (often they would be fruit) appearing in a line.
The modern slot machines are based around central computers but are still built to look and feel just like their older ancestors. One of the common myths with slot machines is that they are “due a payout”. This simply isn’t true as the modern machines have RNG (random number generators) much like online poker sites and any payout that is “due” is an illusion. So just because a machine has not paid out in over a week does not mean that it is about to.
This is no different to say the number 44 not being drawn out in a national lottery. Many people would select this number in the belief that it was “due”. This belief would then be re-enforced for the future if number 44 did indeed arrive on the following draw. But the truth is that sophisticated lotteries are like sophisticated slot machines in that they have no memory.
I will be looking more and more into slot machines in future posts,
see you soon
Carl
